Most Popular and Best Selling Video Games of All Time [Updated 2016]

If you take a look at the first video game ever and the most recent video game released, you can see how far video game technology has progressed. The first ever commercially available video game “Pong” had very simple minimal pixel graphics and if you look at the recent video games like Fallout 4 or Grand Theft Auto 5, they are so technologically advanced with detailed 3D models and procedural generation.

Video games have been a big part of our lives and they have been attracting more and more people because of its jaw dropping entertainment and their artistic value. Some video games have been so popular that you can’t even forget to mention them when you talk about video games.

Following are the top 10 best selling & popular video games of all time:

Tetris is the most popular video game to have sold more than 100 million copies since its first release in 1984. Developed by a Russian artificial intelligence researcher Alexey Pajitnov, Tetris has become so popular that there is no person who does not know about it. Tetris with its simple graphics and the concept of stacking blocks and making rows of blocks disappear is very easy to understand, but becomes very challenging at times. People ranging from children to elders have enjoyed spending lots and lots of their time playing this game. Since its first release, Tetris has been released for many platforms including Amiga, Amstrad PC, Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Game Boy, PC and even iOS and Android.

Wii Sports is a sports game developed by Nintendo as a launch title for their Nintendo Wii console in 2006. The game is a demo to show what the Wii motion controllers could do and this game was released as a pack-in with the Wii console. Wii Sports is very popular for playing with friends and family and includes sports such as bowling, golf, tennis and baseball. Despite being available only with the Wii console, its simple and fun gameplay attracted many people into buying Wii consoles to spend their free time with friends and family in doing the fun activities Wii Sports offers.

Minecraft was developed by Swedish company Mojang in 2011 and it is the most played and popular video game of all time. Minecraft features a procedurally generated 3D world in which players can build constructions out of textured cubes and explore randomly generated worlds. Minecraft is most popular for allowing its players creative freedom and the absence of specific goals allowing the players to do whatever they want. Everything in Minecraft is made out of cubes of different things like wood, metal, dirt, sand and the game gives the feeling of playing with Legos. Minecraft was originally made for PC but is also available for iOS, Android, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and Windows Phone.

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V), released in 2013, is the latest addition to the successful Grand Theft Auto series developed by Rockstar. GTA V was the most anticipated game of 2013 and was very positively received due to its huge map and the possibilities the gameplay offers. You can drive around, fly in various air craft and explore the different environments of the fictional Los Santos county. Other than the story mode, GTA V is also popular for its Online mode. GTA V is available for PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One and PC.

There is not a single gamer in the world who doesn’t know about the famous Nintendo game, Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros. was developed and released by Nintendo for their Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. IGN has declared it as the “greatest game of all time” and “highly influential video game”. Super Mario Bros. pioneered the side scrolling platformer genre of video games and due to its high popularity, Nintendo launched a Super Mario franchise spawning games, featuring Super Mario and other characters, for every console made by Nintendo. Super Mario Bros. was Nintendo’s top selling game before Wii Sports took the place by selling 83 million copies.

Diablo III was developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2012 and was the long awaited sequel to the equally popular Diablo II. Diablo III set a new record for the fastest-selling PC game by selling 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release and it sold over 12 million copies during 2012. Diablo III is an action role-playing, hack and slash game with a bird’s eye view gameplay. The player takes the role of a hero class in a story mode and also a PvP multiplayer mode. Later, Diablo III was released for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One which led to the sale of 30 million copies across all platforms.

Pac-Man was created by a Japanese video game designer Toru Iwatani and was distributed by Namco for arcades in 1980. Pac-Man has been immensely popular since its release and till today it is regarded as an icon of the 1980s pop culture. Due to its high popularity and sales, the Pac-Man franchise has spawned multiple spin-off games for many platforms including animated television series. The iconic gameplay and increasing difficulty of Pac-Man has attracted many players in getting the highest score possible. The original Pac-Man was a landmark in the video game industry and to this day it is still popular among a wide range of age groups.

Just like how Grand Theft Auto V’s release was long awaited, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (GTA SA) was also very anticipated and very positively received at its release. Famous for its signature gameplay involving violence and a huge world, GTA SA is still a favorite among gamers and many of them still find easter eggs hidden throughout the game even years after its release. GTA SA was also a very controversial game due to its adult and story involving criminals. GTA SA was released in 2004 for PS2, Xbox and PC. Years later, it was released as a remastered edition for Android, iOS, PS3 and PS4.

Anyone who is a fan of first-person shooters has played at least one Call of Duty game or they if they have not, they still know about the Call of Duty games. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was released by Activision in late 2011 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 and it sold 6.5 million copies in the US and UK alone grossing over $400 million and made the record for being the biggest entertainment launch of all time until it was broken by Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 the following year. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is most popular for its impressive ammunition and is popular among hardcore multiplayer FPS fans.

Another Call of Duty game to be included in this list is Black Ops. Released a year before Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops more than 5.6 million copies in the US and UK combined within 24 hours of its release. Black Ops’ sales exceeded a record $1 billion within the first 6 weeks of its release making it the best-selling video games of all time in the US and Europe. Black Ops was the first to feature a story in the Cold War Era, a Zombies mode in which players can fight infinite waves of the undead and also well known for having different configurations for each weapon in the multiplayer mode.

These were the top 10 best selling & popular video games of all time. Video games are a big part of our lives and these games were the biggest landmarks in the history of video gaming and which have defined the video game entertainment and pop culture.